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Ex-Coutts Boss Rory Tapner Resurfaces as Chairman of New Wealth Manager

The Wealth Net, Mar 2, 2016

Rory Tapner, the head of Coutts until February last year, has become chairman of Sanctum Wealth Management in India, a firm formed from the buyout of the private banking business of RBS in the country.

The company has been founded by Shiv Gupta after the agreed MBO of the business which he had headed under RBS

Other directors of the new board are Jayesh Parekh, managing partner of Jungle Ventures, Shagun Kapur Gogia, founder and managing director of Tuscan Ventures; Nitin Nath, cofounder at Mount Nathan Advisors as well as Mr. Gupta.

“The constitution of our expanded board is an important step, ahead of the launch of Sanctum Wealth, as it provides us with a strong foundation for governance ahead of the commencement of operations,” Mr. Gupta said.

Agreement was reached between RBS and Sanctum for the buyout in September 2015, with the latter planning to retain all branch networks currently operated by RBS private banking in India.

The deal, on undisclosed financial terms, is expected to close in the first-quarter of this year

Mr. Tapner said: “Sanctum will be equipped with a fresh set of technology bought in from third-parties so we will move straight to a modern platform. We will have a good number (of clients) from day one and will be very much viable from the start.”

Sanctum will operate purely in the onshore wealth management sector in India, Mr. Tapner stressed.

“We are not getting involved in international from the outset – the offshore or NRI business. There aren’t too many onshore wealth manager boutiques in India so we will aim to be influential in this niche.”

Mr. Tapner maintains links with Coutts as chairman of the Trustees of the Coutts Foundation, the charitable arm of the British private bank.